Removable batteries are commonly employed to power electronic devices. In contrast to permanently embedded batteries, removable batteries are more likely to sustain damage, and thereby disabling use of the electronic device. Specifically, at an area of a battery housing where a removable battery may be detached from or where there is a door that provides access to a battery compartment, such areas remain pervious to external agents, such as water, that may cause damage to the electronic device or the removable battery itself. For instance, when external agents enter the electronic device through these points of access, they may damage and corrode sensitive components of the battery or the electronic device, such as contact terminals, SIM card slots and/or memory card slots.
Removable batteries have facilitated the use of numerous types of electronic devices. Specifically, removable batteries have contributed to the portability of such electronic device. However, since removable batteries are not permanently embedded within the electronic device, the battery housings of removable batteries or the components of an electronic device that secure a removable battery to the electronic device become susceptible to potentially damaging external agents, such as water. These environmental agents are able to enter into areas with sensitive electronic components via the seams of battery housings or gaps between a removable battery and securing components of the electronic device. Therefore, greater caution is required where there is an enhanced threat of environmental exposure and damage.
Water damage (or similar damage caused by other liquids) is one of the most undesirable problems that can affect an electronic device. Water that enters a device, for example through the removable battery compartment into the battery housing, can lead to numerous problems. In the short term water damage can cause short-circuiting of the electronic device. In the long term, water damage can corrode the internal metal parts of the electronic device. Accordingly, there is a need in the arts for a way to prevent water to permeate into an electronic device and allow for use of an electronic device in a wet or aqueous environment while simultaneously keeping the battery design streamlined.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a removable battery usable with external devices and impermeable to external environmental agents such that the electronic device may continue to function properly, even when exposed to such external environmental agents. This and other features and advantages of the present invention will be explained and will become obvious to one skilled in the art through the summary of the invention that follows.